Jan 15: ++Baalbek (Bronze-age sanctuary, Heliopolis) ticket 12,000=$8: Temple of Venus (3rd c AD), Holy precint of Temple of Jupiter (60 AD), largest temple in the Roman empire, including the only hexagonal court in the Roman empire, and Temple of Bacchus (150 AD).
Once at the top of the stairs, one has a breathtaking view of the complex.
Past the hexagonal court, one enters the great court, from which the size of
the complex appears even more imposing. The Temple of Jupiter looks like a
fortress. The corniche alone was gigantic (pieces are visible at the lower
level of the southeastern side).
Best time to take pictures is the morning, but
make sure there are enough tourists around: you need human beings around for
your pictures to deliver the size of the temples.
Shared taxi to Shtura (1 hour 2,000 LL) and Anjar (30' 1000 LL) plus walk three kms to the ruins. +Anjar: abandoned Umayyad (8th c) city (Chalcis) near border with Syria, ticket 6,000=$4.
Shared taxi to border (15' 1000 LL) and to Damascus (1 hour, 6000 LL).
Damascus. $1=50 pounds. Hotel Al Haramein 350=$7.

Tyre (Roman ruins), 3 hours south of Beirut

Syria:

Jan 16: Harasta station to Tadmor/Palmyra 125+$2.50 3 hours. Ticket 150 pounds (most of Palmyra is free, you only pay to enter the Temple of Bel).
++Palmyra (abandoned pre-Roman city in the desert 150 kms NE of Damascus): +Tombs (age? Egyptian-style structures but Greek-style paintings), Castle, Colonnade, +Tetrapylon, Agora, Theater, Temple of Nabo, ++Temple of Bel (32 AD), Monumental Arch.
The archeological museum (150 pounds) has a reconstruction of the Temple of Baal (but
photography is forbidden). Warning: do not visit Palmyra when there are few tourists around: you will be harassed the entire time by vendors, camel riders, etc.
Also, you want tourists in your pictures to show the size of the structures.
Bus to Homs 75 pounds 2 hours and bus to Aleppo/Haleb
(northern Syria, near border with Turkey)
75 pounds 2.5 hours.
Hotel Al Gawaher 350=$7. Dinner at +Khan al-Khalili (on Zaki al Arsuzi near
clocktower).

Picture of Borsa theater

Jan 17: Haleb/Aleppo old city: Khan al Jumruk (1574), Citadel/Tell (mosques of 12th c) ticket 150 pounds, Great Mosque/ Jamma al Kebir (10 years younger than the mosque in Damascus), + Minaret (1090), Souq, +Qalaat Samaan/ St Simeon (459 AD) ticket 150pounds.
Haleb ideal as last stop for a shopping spree.
Bus to Ebla/Tell Mardik 1 hour ticket 150.
Ebla (city-state of 2250 BC, 54 kms south of Aleppo): Ishtar temple on top of the hill (Amorite, 2000 BC), Palace of the Prince (20th c BC), Sanctuary of the Dead, ++Royal Palace (2400 BC).
Unfortunately most of the pieces found in Ebla have been moved around Syria (Idlib, Aleppo, Damascus), so it is almost impossible to get an accurate idea of their civilization.
Bus to Marrat and minibus to Hama 1.5 hour. Hama: Hotel ++Cairo $8 with shower and tv.

Notes

Lebanon, Syria and Jordan are among the safest countries in the world.
Furthermore, the people (especially in Syria, but also in Lebanon and, with
a few exceptions, in Jordan) are the kindest, most honest and most hospitable
in the world. There is frequent transportation (either buses or service taxis)
to just about every village. There is absolutely no crime. There are no beggars.
The kindness of the Syrian people is impossible to put in words: you have to go
to believe it. Countless people paid for me. Countless bus drivers did not
want me to pay the ticket. Countless vendors gave me goods for free.
Add very low prices for hotels, restaurants and transportation.
These are among the ideal vacation destinations in the world.

Visas for westerners are easy as far as Lebanon and Jordan go (usually,
you get them when crossing the border). The only one that can be tricky is
Syria: get the visa before you leave your country because Syrian embassies
have a reputation for refusing visas to people who apply in a country other
than their own.

Dollars are widely accepted. Change little money.

Syria is so cheap that guides are affordable even for low-budget tourists.
Getting a guide in places like Palmyra is a good idea. You can bargain both the
time and the amount.

Beirut is being rebuilt. There is a whole new town that is full of life.

In Damascus check hotels around Al Mejreh square (halfway between the museum, the bus station and the old town, many restaurants and internet).

Photography is definitely not allowed in the Beirut museum and mostly not
allowed in the Damascus museum. Basically, they removed artifacts from their
original location (Mari, Ebla, Byblos, etc) and moved them to a building in
which you cannot photograph them. This is the concept of the museum as a prison.
Neither museum had a book with the photographs of the main objects (Beirut's
catalog misses three of the main ones). De facto, they have decided that
the picture of some of the most important artifacts in human history cannot
be viewed by the world.